Like Sawyer, when LOTR was first announced. Then when I picked up the Dark Crystal Kira and Jen figs, I noticed "Oh, these are by the people that are going to be doing LOTR!"
Back then they were distributed through Diamond and I had every wave of LOTR on order (the busts, I was just going to collect the busts ROFL). Breaking with Diamond meant better customer service, but it was so easy for one of my comic shops to just get everything in and then hold it for me until I could pay! Then came a damaged piece that I could never get a replacement for through Diamond and I was introduced to the beautiful thing that is Sideshow's Customer Service!!